


clandestine

by miastree



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Bad Flirting, Canon-typical swearing, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, although enemies is a little strong, dex speaks gaelic, is there a rivals to friends to lovers tag, mentions of dex's family that i made up, polyglot nursey, seriously nurse cmon, translations in the description
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-19 08:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9430271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miastree/pseuds/miastree
Summary: Nursey thinks if Dex can't understand what he's saying, then he can flirt in safety.Nursey is wrong.Unfortunately for him, other people can speak different languages.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [In English, Please](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7407115) by Anonymous. 



> welcome back to polyglot nursey again which you will have to fight me in order to take back.  
> the title kind of works but i liked it so we'll pretend it's perfect.  
> dex's family is made up (obviously) by yours truly and i made a post a while back briefly outlining them [here](https://omgpoindexter.tumblr.com/post/156210097758/who-is-in-dexs-family-like-who-do-u-hc-being-in)  
> translations mainly using google translate or something similar, so all are very literal. please let me know if i can improve them in any way :)

For some reason, Nursey and Dex fight. It's not really proper fighting, but somehow it isn't chirping either. It's more like petty arguing, or bickering, which is what Bitty calls it. 

Nursey isn't really sure why it's such a constant. Somehow he just gets on Dex's nerves, like most things seem to, and he can't just let Dex shout at him or sass him without sticking up for himself. Unfortunately, Dex is one sassy idiot. 

Somewhere along the line though, Nursey comes to realise that the niggling feeling in the back of his brain whenever Dex comes near him isn't annoyance, or irritation, like he'd always assumed. In fact it was something entirely the opposite, like a weird nervousness that he never really felt around anyone else.

Derek Nurse doesn't get nervous. He is notoriously chill.

In any case, Nursey has started to slip into speaking different languages around Dex. 

"Buenos días!" he greets over a Haus breakfast, and then jokes, "¡Tanto tiempo sin verte!"

"I can't understand you when you insult me in... not English," Dex mutters just loud enough for only Nursey to catch.

"Spanish," Nursey chuckles. "Perhaps that's why I do it."

It isn't an insult, and the idea stems from there.

Nursey and Dex are brilliant hockey players. They work well together on the ice, seamlessly defending without having to exchange many words. It's like they have some sort of psychic link. Sometimes, though, during practice, things don't always go according to plan. 

Holster finds it infuriating. They're wonderful additions to the team, and as a co-captain he has to shout at them very often, even order them to get along. Like children, Ransom says once, and Holster agrees.

"For God's sake, Nurse! You'd have thought after playing hockey for so long you'd actually be _half fucking decent_ at it," Dex yells.

The two team captains make eye contact across the ice and Holster rolls his, beginning to skate across to them to break up their argument.

Nursey, leaning back nonchalantly, rolls his eyes. " _Díos mio_ , Poindexter, _chill!_ If you stopped whining for, like, ten seconds maybe we could actually play some hockey for once!"

"You're so irritating," Dex shouts, frustrated, clutching his hockey stick so hard his knuckles go white. "One of these days somebody is going to punch you and I hope they film it."

"Yeah, well, me gusta tu sonrisa," Nursey huffs and Dex glares at him, unaware of the compliment and instead skating off, probably to avoid punching him.

Holster had taken half a semester of Spanish, and it doesn't take a fluent speaker to realise that Nursey isn't spouting insults. He stops in the middle of the ice and grins.

"Eres lindo!" Nursey throws such an easily-translated compliment in Dex's direction and Holster realises with a jolt that the pair don't hate each other, like, at all.

"Shut the fuck up, Nurse!" comes Dex's reply.

Holster rolls his eyes again. Even if they're oblivious and he's kinda rooting for them, they could argue a little less.

* * *

Matilda's French is very good. She's the only one in the family that can speak another language that isn't English or Irish Gaelic, with the exception of Lucas being able to reel off a slightly unbelievable amount of binomial names or Latin medical terminology. 

So when Will's college hockey friend comes to visit, she's overjoyed. Will introduces Nursey - their mom tells them to call him Derek, but Will calls him Nursey - to her first, and she immediately replies with her usual "Bonjour."

"Ah, salut," Nursey grins in reply. "Enchanté!"

Dex rolls his eyes behind his friend as Matilda realises with a flutter of excitement that Nursey speaks French. 

She discovers over the next four days that Nursey also speaks Spanish, French, Latin, Irish, like them, and Arabic, making Nursey her new idol.

There are also other things she discovers about Nursey, but she isn't really told. She works them out by herself.

Matilda is a clever girl, although she wouldn't admit it. The Poindexters are all clever in their own ways; Lucas is the textbook definition of clever, the one with all the medical and science knowledge. Dex's way of taking apart anything and knowing how it goes back together, often better, is sort of an art. Aubrey's magical ability to be one with music is astounding, there's Catherine's easy, calculating manipulation of, well, anyone to get her way and even Rory's way of predicting how to land the perfect jump on the ice makes him very smart.

So Matilda knows people. That's her thing. Teaching kids to swim outside of school means she sees lots of faces, lots of emotions, and being around her lovesick and often irritating teenage friends means she knows relationships, even if they are a bit fake.

Her parents, though, have always been Matilda's basis for real love. Despite any disagreements or petty arguments, she knows her parents truly love one another. She can see it in their faces.

That's why Nursey is a surprise. Not because of his gorgeous face and expensive clothing, which make him entirely the opposite of the friends Will usually makes, but because of the looks he gives Will. Mostly when Will isn't looking, Nursey lets the most loved-up expression settle on his face.

Matilda knows Will too, and she knows him well. Even if Aubrey was the first person Will came out to all those years ago, Matilda has always been a close confidante of her older brother's. She can read him like a book, too.

This means Matilda knows that Will feels a very similar way to his friend, even if he hasn't mentioned anything of the sort.

"Quelles sont vos intentions avec mon frère?" Matilda says to Nursey at breakfast in a quiet voice: Dex doesn't speak French, but it's not hard to pick out individual words.

Nursey just laughs again from where he's fussing at the sink. He laughs a lot. "Je l’aime beaucoup," he says, "mais c’est un secret. Il ne le sait pas encore."

Matilda grins and rests her chin on her fist. "Ton secret est en sécurité avec moi," she replies. Nursey smiles at her over his shoulder.

"Mais," she adds nonchalantly around a mouthful of cereal, "si tu lui faire du mal, je vais te défoncer."

Nursey has the sense to look slightly worried.

Dex pushes past him, making him jump and drop his glass into the sink, chipping the edge. Nursey sighs as he inspects the glass.

"Tu as de la chance d'être mignon," he says.

Dex scowls as Matilda's mouth drops open in surprise. _You're lucky you're cute..._ she can't have heard that right.

"Wasn't my fault," he defends with an annoyance that Matilda can see straight through after many occasions of being on the receiving end of the real thing. "Don't drop shit."

Nursey clicks his tongue. "Tu es trop beau pour que je reste en colère contre toi," he replies immediately.

Matilda giggles. She's right, and Nursey is obvious. Dex, however, scoffs and stalks off into the lounge without bothering to ask for a translation.

"Tu vas te faire prendre," she says to Nursey once her brother is gone. "You can't flirt with him forever in secret."

Nursey shrugs.

"J'en doute," he says in reply, putting his chipped glass into the dishwasher. "Ton frère n'a pas tendance à écouter."

Matilda smiles into her cereal. "I'd watch your words. You'd be surprised at how much he picks up."

* * *

Bitty's attempting French. He knows how many languages Nursey speaks and it's admirable, but it also means he can mutter stuff under his breath or chirp Dex without anybody knowing what he's saying. It's pretty hard to be the mom friend when he doesn't know if he needs to exert discipline, or, like, _that_ tone of voice.

Samwell Men's Hockey kind of all know what Nursey's up to. Holster translates his Spanish phrases, kind of, on Chowder's _nurseydex_ group chat. Various translation websites do the rest.

"Táim i ngrá leat," Nursey mutters, his words almost incomprehensible as he faceplants into the couch, dangerously close to Dex's notebook. Bitty winces. He has many, _many_ doubts about that couch.

Dex immediately stops what he's doing, his pen pausing over his notes and his face a picture of shock. He glances at Bitty, who shrugs, mouthing _I don't know_ , because he doesn't. He doesn't even know what language Nursey's speaking.

But Dex just sits there with his mouth agape, because he _does_ know. His mom's family is Irish, so the Poindexters have always spoken Irish at home. Dex doesn't even know that Nursey spoke it. For the first time, Dex actually understands something Nursey's saying to him, and finally he understands that it's not insults. Maybe none of them are.

"W - what?" Dex stammers, then clears his throat. Nursey doesn't seem to notice.

Bitty eyes them both, feeling out of their loop, like always. Nursey and Dex seem to have their own little world a lot of the time. He hovers by them in case it turns into a full-blown argument, much like it used to, even if that hasn't happened in a while.

"Táim i ngrá leat," Nursey lifts his head up and says it again, louder and clearer. Bitty still doesn't get it, but it must be something important as Dex's face floods entirely with a red flush. 

 _I love you?_  Dex thinks. _No way_.

"Abair sin arís, le do thoil," he musters up the courage to reply with what Bitty guesses is mock confidence. He's an even brighter red now, and he's abandoned all efforts of making notes.

Nursey drops his head back onto the couch and doesn't say a word. In fact, he stays deathly silent as Bitty stands, confused, by the door. Dex, meanwhile, is trying not to yell something.

"I didn't realise you spoke Irish," Nursey says, basically ignoring Dex's words and trying to keep his voice level, but Bitty hears the squeakiness to it and he's guessing Dex does too.

Bitty still doesn't understand any of what's going on.

"My mom's Irish," Dex says. 

"Ah," croaks Nursey.

"You're an idiot," Dex snorts. Then, in a less amused tone of voice, "I love you too."

Bitty drops his phone and Nursey and Dex both jump, whipping their heads around to face him. 

"Uh," Bitty says, "I'll just... there's something in the oven?"

Nursey and Dex watch as he scurries out of the room, clutching his phone to his chest and forming his text to the _nurseydex_ chat in his head.

"All the stuff you said before, in the other languages," Dex says tentatively, "they weren't insults?"

"No," Nursey admits. "Mostly... bad flirting."

"You really _are_ an idiot," Dex laughs. "Am I going to have to ask Tilda what you said to her?"

Nursey, who has now twisted to face him on the sofa and pulled his knees up to his chest, blushes. "Um, for my sake, please don't."

Dex bursts into adorable giggles. "I love you," he laughs. "Really. You're going to have to translate for me in future."

"For real?" Nursey shifts over, touching Dex's knees. Dex nods.

Dex's brain short-circuits, then, because Nursey kisses him, slow and soft. 

* * *

  _ **(17:32) Bitty:** y'all are never gonna guess what just happened_

 **_(17:32) Chowder:_ ** _Did Nursey say something embarrassing in Irish yet_

 **_(17:32) Bitty:_ ** _chowder how_

 **_(17:35) Bitty:_ ** _they're still kissing_

 **_(17:35) Ransom:_ ** _W TF_

 **_(17:35) Holster:_ ** _q_ _ué????????_

 **_(17:35) Lardo:_ ** _BROOOOOOOO_

_**(17:36) Jack:** Haha. Cool _

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it. these dorks, i swear. 
> 
> TRANSLATIONS OOPS THERES TONS:  
> buenos dias - good morning  
> ¡tanto tiempo sin verte! - long time no see  
> me gusta tu sonrisa - i like your smile  
> eres lindo - you're cute
> 
> enchanté - nice to meet you  
> quelles sont vos intentions avec mon frère - what are your intentions with my brother  
> je l’aime beaucoup - i love him a lot  
> mais c’est un secret, il ne le sait pas encore - but it's a secret, he doesn't know yet  
> ton secret est en sécurité avec moi - your secret is safe with me  
> si tu lui faire du mal, je vais te défoncer - if you hurt him i will fight you  
> tu as de la chance que d'être mignon - you're lucky you're cute  
> tu es trop beau pour que je reste colère contre toi - you're too pretty to be mad at  
> tu vas te faire prendre - you're going to get caught  
> j'en doute - I doubt it  
> ton frère n'a pas tendance à écouter - your brother doesn't tend to listen
> 
> gráím thú - i love you  
> abair sin arís, le do thoil - please say that again
> 
> you can find me on [tumblr](http://www.omgpoindexter.tumblr.com) to ask me things or talk to me about check please or just shout nurseydex themed content in my general direction. i welcome all of those !!!


End file.
